Catholic Church In NJ Paid Leader's Alleged Sex Victims: Report

Two alleged victims were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars after they said a top New Jersey church leader sexually abused them, according to a New York Times report published this week.

Catholic dioeses in New Jersey paid two former priests $180,000, including $80,000 to one who said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick would invite him and others to a Sea Girt house where they would be expected to share a bed, according to The New York Times report.

Robert Ciolek, a former priest, said McCarrick would rub his back and touch him in bed. “In the corporate world, there are ways to report misconduct,” Ciolek he said in The New York Times report.

McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Newark, the founding Bishop of Metuchen and Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., has been removed from the ministry after allegations that he abused a teen 50 years ago came to light, church leaders announced last month.

McCarrick, 87, said in a statement that he doesn't recall the abuse but he accepted his removal: "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people," he said.

McCarrick said he was advised by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, that an allegation of sexual abuse of a teenager from 47 years ago had been made against him. At that time, he was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

"While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence, I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency, and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process," he said.

"My sadness was deepened when I was informed that the allegations had been determined credible and substantiated."

McCarrick was bishop of Metuchen from 1981 to 1986, and served as Newark's archbishop from 1986 to 2000.

Rev. James F. Checchio, Bishop of Metuchen, has said he was "very saddened" to be advised by the Archbishop of New York that McCarrick is alleged to have sexually abused a minor when he was a priest in the Archdiocese of New York.

"This very disturbing report has prompted me to direct that the records of our Diocese be re-examined, and I can report to you that there has never been any report or allegation that Cardinal McCarrick ever abused any minor during his time here in Metuchen," he said. "In the past, there have been allegations that he engaged in sexual behavior with adults. This Diocese and the Archdiocese of Newark received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements."

In Metuchen, he was the shepherd of the newly formed diocese, according to nj.com, and later would build a $13 million archdiocesan center next to the cathedral in Newark. He allegedly used his connections to get Pope John Paul II to Newark in 1995.

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